Conventional paint barrels have long been troublesome to painters, particularly commercial paint barrels such as the standard five gallon barrel typically sold. Paint barrels are normally filled to the brim in such a manner that pouring paint out of these barrels without a spout is difficult. Prior art spouts do exist, but are often difficult to connect to a paint barrel, which either has a threaded cover over a paint outlet or a plugged hole from which paint is poured with the plug removed. In addition, particles within larger paint barrels have to be removed before the paint is used, or great care has to be taken to ensure that such particles are not picked up by paint brushes thus again inconveniencing the painters. Various filters for paint barrels are also known in the prior art.
Combined spout and filter devices are also known in the art, for example, those produced by Kovrd Products Inc. and described in their United States Patent Publication Nos. 2012/0325858 and 2012/0228331. These products include a spout with a fabric or mesh type material connected to a bottom portion of the spout and extending into the paint barrel which prevents the flow of particles into the spout. However, some problems still exist with the Kovrd Products spout. In particular, the interface between the spout and filter may be prone to failure and the flow rate of paint out of the container is reduced.
One example of these particles are lumps and clumps of paint found in the barrels. Plastic barrels are oxygen permeable. Air can enter the barrel causing an inner lining of skin on the walls of the pail, resulting from variations in air temperature. When pouring paint out of the barrel, this skin begins to peel away and enter the paint.
It would thus be beneficial to provide an improved device capable of acting as a filter and a spout having a longer lifespan than the prior art and optionally avoiding the decreased flow rate problem.